There’s nothing like a blooming Amaryllis to cheer up a long winter! I received this bulb at a Christmas party last December. I didn’t think it was even going to make it because I forgot to plant it right away. By the time I remembered I had it the bulb had started to sprout in the box and half of the bulb looked almost rotten. I didn’t think it would do too well because of it. Amazingly I had two shoots with a total of 8 blooms! I just love the coral-pink color!

I came across a great website today called naturalnews.com. It’s always refreshing to come across others spreading the truth about health. With all the propaganda in our media, government and health industry the truth is rarely heard.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I found this fabulous recipe for Cranberry-Orange Scones at Epicurious (my FAVORITE recipe site) and just had to make them for Valentine’s Day! My daughter and I took them to a Valentine’s tea at a nearby friend’s house. They actually have more of a sweet biscuit texture than a traditional scone. I can’t say these are especially healthy but boy are they scrumptious!

I’ve really been into famous quotes lately. They offer insight in bite-size pieces that are easy to remember and I just love that! Lately there have been several that have struck me so you’ll probably be seeing more of them on here in the near future.

Lately I’ve been pondering quotes about creativity and imagination. Here are a few that have impressed me:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ~Albert Einstein

“Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” ~Beatrix Potter

“Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” ~William James

In thinking about these quotes I’ve wondered what can we as parents do to encourage our children to be creative? Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
Let kids be their own personality.
Send kids outside to explore.
Allow them to make mistakes and even fail sometimes.
Don’t always entertain them.
Encourage playing and pretending.
Support them in their unique interests.
Don’t over-schedule them. Childhood should be spent in play and exploring not doing truckloads of extra-curricular activities.
Read to them! (Richard Scary books are great for encouraging imagination while building up the mind by rhyme)